Anna Dechant and Annika Rinklake

In this chapter we analyse the accounts of 28 parents-to-be in western Germany who were expecting their first child in 2006. We focus on the interviewees’ plans for their division of childcare and paid work to explore how these plans were affected by family policies and cultural models of motherhood and fatherhood. At the time of the interviews, parents-to-be in western Germany found themselves in a conservative welfare state in which the ideal of the male breadwinner and female homemaker was quite prevalent. We find that most interviewed couples decided that the woman should stay at home for an extended period, beyond the mandatory maternity leave of eight weeks, to care for the child. Half of the women planned to return to the labour market within the first year after childbirth whereas some decided to take up to 36 months of parental leave. The women mostly envisioned being the main caregiver and if a return to employment was planned, it was often planned with reduced work hours. Several of the women who planned to return to work quickly reported being criticized and referred to the term ‘Rabenmutter’ to describe the stigma. Breastfeeding was mentioned as being very important for the child’s health and often used as an argument for the division of parental leave and its anticipated length. Most couples planned for the father to stay employed full-time and to spend time with their children in the evenings and on weekends. A few couples had different plans; two couples wanted to share childcare and paid work equally, while one couple planned for the father to stay at home and be the primary caregiver.

Anna Dechant and Annika Rinklake

In this chapter, we draw on reports of western German couples who did not plan to follow the dominant normative expectations of gendered separate spheres and analyse their experiences as new parents during the first year after childbirth. Eight out of fourteen couples interviewed in 2006 and 2007 planned and realized non-normative divisions of work and care as the mother was active in the labour market, the father reduced his paid working hours for childcare, and/or non-family members were involved in childcare. The couples discussed several aspects that were important for planning and achieving a non-normative work-care arrangement such as the mothers’ strong work identity, ideals of gender equity, financial reasons, and occupational conditions like support at the workplace. Overall, it was mostly the mothers who did not follow normative expectations of full-time maternal childcare while most fathers did not challenge the male breadwinner norm.